This measure urges the President of the United States of America to use his executive powers to call for the release of Marine Sergeant Andrew Tahmooressi from prison in Mexico.
The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases. The state board is required to adopt a statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit equivalent to the statewide greenhouse gas emissions level in 1990 to be achieved by 2020, and to adopt rules and regulations in an open public process to achieve the maximum, technologically feasible, and cost-effective greenhouse gas emissions reductions. The act authorizes the state board to include the use of market-based compliance mechanisms. Existing state board regulations require specified entities to comply with a market-based compliance mechanism beginning January 1, 2013, and require additional specified entities to comply with that market-based compliance mechanism beginning January 1, 2015. This bill instead would exempt categories of persons or entities that did not have a compliance obligation, as defined, under a market-based compliance mechanism beginning January 1, 2013, from being subject to that market-based compliance mechanism through December 31, 2020. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law imposes an annual minimum franchise tax, except as provided, on every corporation incorporated in this state, qualified to transact intrastate business in this state, or doing business in this state. Existing law exempts a corporation that incorporates or qualifies to do business in this state from the payment of the minimum franchise tax in its first taxable year. Existing law imposes an annual tax in an amount equal to the minimum franchise tax on every limited liability company doing business in this state. In addition, existing law requires every limited liability company if the articles of organization have been accepted by, or a certificate of registration has been issued by, the Secretary of State to pay an annual tax in an amount equal to the minimum franchise tax. This bill would, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2015, and before January 1, 2018, reduce that minimum franchise tax for a corporation and that annual tax for a limited liability company, as provided, that is a new veteran-owned small business, as defined, and would eliminate the tax if the business operates at a loss or ceases operation. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
The California Constitution prohibits a bill other than the Budget Bill from being heard or acted on by a committee or either house of the Legislature until the 31st day after the bill is introduced, unless the house dispenses with this requirement by rollcall vote entered in the journal, 34 of the membership concurring. This measure would add an additional exception to this 31-day waiting period by authorizing a committee to hear or act on a bill if the bill, in the form to be considered by the committee, has been in print and published on the Internet for at least 15 days. Existing provisions of the California Constitution prohibit either house of the Legislature from passing a bill until the bill with amendments has been printed and distributed to the Members. This measure would also prohibit either house of the Legislature from passing a bill until the bill, in the form to be voted on, has been made available to the public, in print and published on the Internet, for at least 72 hours preceding the vote. This requirement would not apply to specified urgency bills upon the submission by the Governor to the Legislature of a written statement that it is necessary to dispense with the requirement to address a state of emergency declared by the Governor.
Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction, with the approval of the State Board of Education, to develop an Academic Performance Index (API) to measure the performance of schools and school districts, especially the academic performance of pupils. Existing federal law, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, contains provisions generally requiring states to adopt performance goals for their public elementary and secondary schools, and to demonstrate that these public schools are making adequate yearly progress, as measured by pupil performance on standardized tests as well as other measures, to satisfy those goals. Existing law requires the State Department of Education to report test results of all state-mandated testing programs to the individual school districts by a specified date. Existing law requires the department to compile an attrition rate for high school pupils in the state. Existing law, the Open Enrollment Act, authorizes the parent of a pupil enrolled in a low-achieving school, as defined, to submit an application for the pupil to attend a school in a school district of enrollment, as defined, as specified. This bill would require the department to create a parent resources Internet Web site that provides specific information relating to public school options, including, among other things, information regarding the Open Enrollment Act and school district and school level reports on pupil outcomes, including the API. The bill would also require the department to provide a link to the parent resources Internet Web site on its main Internet Web site. The bill would require the Superintendent, before implementing this act, to make a determination whether the implementation of this act, at a minimum, is consistent with the Internet Web site policy of the department and state and federal requirements for the security and privacy of pupil data and department data.
Existing law requires the Attorney General to provide a ballot label and a ballot title for each measure to be submitted to the voters at a statewide election. Existing law requires the Attorney General to prepare a summary of the chief purposes and points of each statewide ballot measure as part of the ballot title. Existing law, including provisions of the Political Reform Act of 1974, requires that the ballot pamphlet contain, among other things, the official summary prepared by the Attorney General. This bill would require the Legislative Analyst, instead of the Attorney General, to prepare the ballot label and the ballot title and summary for all measures submitted to the voters of the state. The Political Reform Act of 1974, an initiative measure, provides that the Legislature may amend the act to further the act's purposes upon a 23 vote of each house and compliance with specified procedural requirements. This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes of the act.
(1) Existing law requires the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to close the California Rehabilitation Center located in Norco, California, no later than either December 31, 2016, or 6 months after the construction of three Level II dorm facilities. This bill would suspend this requirement pending a review by the Department of Finance and the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation that determines the facility can be closed. (2) The California Constitution establishes the civil service, to include every officer and employee of the state, except as provided, and requires permanent appointment and promotion in the civil service to be made under a general system based on merit ascertained by competitive examination. Existing law requires the appointing power in all cases not exempted by the California Constitution to fill positions by appointment, including cases of transfers, reinstatements, promotions, and demotions, in strict accordance with specified provisions of law, and requires that appointments to vacant positions be made from employment lists. Existing law, subject to the approval of the State Personnel Board, allows an appointing agency to enter into arrangements with personnel agencies in other jurisdictions for the purpose of exchanging services and effecting transfers of employees. This bill would, until January 1, 2017, make the private California City Correctional Center in California City an agency or jurisdiction for the purpose of exchanging services pursuant to the above provision and all related rules. (3) Existing law allows the State Personnel Board to prescribe rules governing the temporary assignment or loan of employees within an agency or between agencies not to exceed 2 years, or between jurisdictions not to exceed 4 years, for specified purposes. This bill would, until January 1, 2017, make the private California City Correctional Center in California City an agency or jurisdiction for the purpose of the above provision and all related rules for a period not to exceed 2 years. (4) Existing law allows the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to enter into an agreement with a city, county, or city and county, to permit transfer of prisoners in the custody of the secretary to a jail or other adult correctional facility. Under existing law, prisoners transferred to a local facility remain under the legal custody of the department. Existing law prohibits any agreement pursuant to these provisions unless the cost per inmate in the facility is no greater than the average costs of keeping an inmate in a comparable facility of the department. This bill would, until January 1, 2017, for purposes of entering into agreements pursuant to the above provisions, waive any process, regulation, or requirement relating to entering into those agreements. The bill would, until January 1, 2017, delete the provision requiring that prisoners transferred to a local facility remain under the legal custody of the department and would delete the requirement that no agreement be entered into unless the cost per inmate in the facility is no greater than the average costs of keeping an inmate in a comparable facility of the department. The bill would, until January 1, 2017, allow a transfer of prisoners to include inmates who have been sentenced to the department but remain housed in a county jail, and would specify that these prisoners shall be under the sole legal custody and jurisdiction of the sheriff or other official having jurisdiction over the facility and not under the legal custody and jurisdiction of the department. The bill would also, until January 1, 2017, allow the secretary to enter into one or more agreements in the form of a lease or operating agreement with private entities to obtain secure housing capacity in the state or in another state, upon terms and conditions deemed necessary and appropriate to the secretary. The bill would, until January 1, 2017, waive any process, regulation, or requirement that relates to the procurement or implementation of those agreements, except as specified. The bill would make the provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act inapplicable to these provisions. (5) Existing law allows the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to establish and operate community correctional centers. This bill would, until January 1, 2017, allow the secretary to enter into agreements for the transfer of prisoners to community correctional centers, and to enter into contracts to provide housing, sustenance, and supervision for inmates placed in community correctional centers. The bill would, until January 1, 2017, waive any process, regulation, or requirement that relates to entering into those agreements. (6) Existing law allows any court or other agency or officer of this state having power to commit or transfer an inmate to any institution for confinement to commit or transfer that inmate to any institution outside this state if this state has entered into a contract or contracts for the confinement of inmates in that institution and the inmate, if he or she was sentenced under California law, has executed written consent to the transfer. This bill would, until January 1, 2017, allow the secretary to transfer an inmate to a facility in another state without the consent of the inmate. (7) Existing law establishes the Commission on Correctional Peace Officer Standards and Training (CPOST) within the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and requires the CPOST to develop, approve, and monitor standards for the selection and training of state correctional peace officers. Existing law allows for the use of training academies and centers, as specified. This bill would, until January 1, 2017, allow the department to use a training academy established for the private California City Correctional Center. (8) Existing law, the California Community Corrections Performance Incentives Act of 2009, authorizes each county to establish a Community Corrections Performance Incentives Fund, and authorizes the state to annually allocate moneys into a State Community Corrections Performance Incentives Fund to be used for specified purposes relating to improving local probation supervision practices and capacities, as specified. As part of the California Community Corrections Performance Incentives Act of 2009, existing law requires the Director of Finance to make certain calculations, including the cost to the state to incarcerate in prison and supervise on parole an offender who fails local supervision and is sent to prison. Existing law requires the Director of Finance to calculate a probation failure reduction incentive payment based on the estimated number of probationers successfully prevented from being incarcerated, multiplied by a specified percentage of the cost to the state to incarcerate in prison and supervise on parole a probationer who was sent to prison. Existing law requires the Department of Finance to calculate 5% of the total statewide estimated number of probationers successfully prevented from being incarcerated for counties that successfully reduce the number of adult felony probationers incarcerated multiplied by the costs to the state to incarcerate in prison and supervise on parole a probationer who was sent to prison to be used to provide high performance grants to county probation departments. This bill would, beginning July 1, 2014, remove the requirement that the Director of Finance calculate the cost to the state to incarcerate in prison and supervise on parole an offender who fails local supervision and is sent to prison, and would instead require the Director of Finance to calculate the cost to the state to incarcerate in a contract facility and supervise on parole an offender who fails local supervision and is sent to prison. The bill would require the probation failure reduction incentive payment to be based on the estimated number of probationers successfully prevented from being incarcerated multiplied by a percentage of the state's cost of housing an inmate in a contract facility, and to supervise on parole a probationer who was sent to prison. The bill would require the Department of Finance to calculate high performance grants to county probation departments as 5% of the total statewide estimated number of probationers successfully prevented from being incarcerated multiplied by the state's cost of housing an inmate in a contract facility, and to supervise on parole a probationer who was sent to prison. The bill would create the Recidivism Reduction Fund in the State Treasury to be available upon appropriation by the Legislature for activities designed to reduce the state's prison population, and would allow funds available in the Recidivism Reduction Fund to be transferred to the State Community Corrections Performance Incentives Fund. (9) The bill would appropriate $315,000,000 from the General Fund to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation for the purposes of this measure. The bill would require the department to spend the funds only to the extent needed to avoid early release. The bill would require any amounts not encumbered by June 30, 2014 to be transferred to the Recidivism Reduction Fund, except as provided. The bill would require the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to report no later than April 1, 2014, and again on April 1, 2015, to the Director of Finance and specified legislative committees detailing the number of inmates housed in leased beds and in contracted beds both inside and outside of the state pursuant to this measure. The bill would require the administration to assess the state prison system, including capacity needs, prison population levels, recidivism rates, and factors effecting crime levels, and to develop recommendations on balanced solutions that are cost effective and protect public safety. The bill would require the Department of Finance to submit the administration's interim report to the Legislature not later than April 1, 2014, and to submit the final report to the Legislature not later than January 10, 2015. (10) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.
Existing law requires each pupil completing grade 12 to satisfy certain requirements as a condition of receiving a diploma of graduation from high school. These requirements include the successful passage of the high school exit examination and the completion of designated coursework in grades 9 to 12, inclusive. The coursework requirements include the completion of at least 2 courses in mathematics. Existing law authorizes the governing board of a school district to adopt additional coursework requirements. This bill would authorize the governing board of a school district that requires more than 2 courses in mathematics for graduation to award a pupil up to one mathematics course credit for successfully completing an approved computer science course, as provided.
